Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Fight or Flight
by Skuldakn
Summary: This is my second book. It is a pet project while I think up ideas for Trust in Death, my first book. If you have any ideas you'd like to share, please review and tell me.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Why don't you just tell me what you know about the Republic and it's military secrets." The interrogator droid said with loathing, if a droid even could loathe. Elana coughed up a mouthful of blood onto the droid. She had been chained to the chair she was in for the previous day, being tortured by a mix of droids. Elana thought back to several days ago, when the Jedi High Council and Republic Command had ordered her battle group of ships and clones to Dathomir. They were to capture the planet from the measly amount of droids stationed here, and hold it so that a Republic fleet could have a straight shot to Serenno, and possibly capture Count Dooku. But that was then. Once the planet had been taken the troops under Elana's command had been settling down. She herself had met with her Padawan Balan, Captain Gurt, her second in command, and Captain Hawke, commander of the ARF troopers assisting her battalion. Everything had gone smoothly, they had captured the planet in one rotation, and everyone was ready to rest. Then came Grievous. A massive Separatist fleet appeared out of hyperspace, destroyed Elana's ships in orbit, and bombed the clones. Everyone had died, except her, because she had gone scouting with Hawke. The bombing had started, and Hawke was hit. Then Grievous himself came down, defeated Elana in a duel, and captured her. The last few surviving clones were killed, and then Grievous had left, leaving a Nemoidian in command. Grievous left her here, and then the Nemoidian came in with the interrogator droid, and left it with orders to 'get very damned secret out of her! Any means necessary!' Elana smiled to herself at the memory. The droid hadn't gotten anything out of her, and it never would.

"Why do you resist, designation Human female? It is illogical." The droid stated. Elana looked over to where the interrogator droid, an IT-O model, she though, had stopped prodding her with shock-sticks, and seemed to be refilling it's syringes. Elana couldn't help it, but she laughed at the droids earnest question.

"I'm an organic." She said. "We're illogical most of the time." Elana explained to the droid, chuckling painfully. "So tell me, what are you going to inject me with this time?" She asked the droid. The IT-O turned towards her, needles pointed at her neck.

"Termination." The droid said simply. It slowly hovered towards her, syringe bared to stab. Suddenly, a flurry of blaster bolts erupted from the doorway, out of Elana's vision, turning the droid into a steaming pile of circuits. The chair Elana was chained to slowly spun around, and Elana gasped. Standing in the doorway was a figure in clone armour, holding the Nemoidian by the throat.

"Hawke? Is that you?" Elana asked tentatively. The clone stared right at her, the T-visor unsettlingly still. Then the clone walked into the light. Elana gasped. It wasn't at clone, it was a Mandalorian in black armour.

"Who are you?" She asked, terrified. Mandalorians had a great hatred of Jedi, and with Elana's luck, this one was no different. The Mandalorian strutted right up to her, looking her up and down. Elana knew that the helmet of a Mando had many different features, and he was probably scanning her for weapons. Suddenly, the Mandalorian turned and flung to Nemoidian straight into the wall beside the door.

"I said you were not to harm the Jedi! Not harm!" The Mando roared at the Nemoidian. The Mando stalked towards him, and the Nemoidian panicked and tried to run. Quick as lightning, the Mandalorian flung a bola, which wrapped itself around the Nemoidian, stunning him. With the Nemoidian dealt with, the Mandalorian turned back to Elana. She closed her eyes, preparing for death.

"I apologize for Commander Karlo. Apparently he heard the word Jedi, and decided you needed to die. Against my specific orders, I might add." The Mandalorian said, his voice calm and peaceful. Elana opened her eyes, and saw the Mandalorian sitting across from her, his helmet in his arms. Elana choked in relief that she wasn't dead. Then she saw the Mandalorians face. To be honest to herself, he was very attractive, to her at least. Then a look of confusion came over her, and she looked to the Mandalorian. He must have seen the extent of her confusion, because he burst out laughing.

"No, I'm not going to kill you Jetii, don't worry. Many Mando'a hate the Jedi, but I do not count myself among them." The Mandalorian said soothingly. Elana looked up at him with surprise.

"Then why serve the Separatists?" She asked nervously.

"Because of what Jango Fett did to the Cuy'val Dar. The clone trainers. Yes, some of them had no one who would miss them, I know." The Mandalorian said, putting two fingers to Elana's lips when she tried to speak. She turned bright red at the gesture.

"But Jetii, he made them disappear. Forever. So I will fight for the Separatists." The Mandalorian said simply. "But enough about me. Karlo did have a point in setting that droid on you. Without those codes, we cannot attack any heavily defended Republic planets. Well, not without devastating losses at least." The Mandalorian chuckled. Then he saw Elana's defiant look on her face.

"Hmm. Alright Jedi, I'll make you a deal. Information for information. I'll tell you my name, you tell me yours." The Mandalorian bowed to her, almost in reach of a kick. "My name is Ike. And yours is . . .?" The Mandalorian looked up at her expectantly. Elana sighed, trying to make it seem that she was unwillingly telling him so that he would drop his guard.

"My name is Elana. And no, I don't know what culture it is from, my masters never told me." The Mandalorian, Ike, looked astonished. He turned from her walking up to a window, muttering something that sounded like 'damn Jedi and their baby stealing!'. Then Ike walked right up to her, within range of a good kick to the chin. Elana took that chance. Her foot whistled through the air, an inch from his face, when suddenly, Ike's hand was just there, holding her ankle. He clicked his tongue, looking at her leg. Then he unsheathed the sword from his back. Beskad, they were called, Elana remembered. Ike pulled his arm back, preparing for a large slice.

"No! NO!" Elana screamed, shutting her eyes tight. Then the cold metal touched her leg, and she flinched and screamed again.

"Damn. Jetii have no guts, do they di'kut?" She heard Ike say. Elana slowly opened her eyes, looking around. She saw Ike sheathing his beskad, simply standing there. Then she looked down. There was a small trickle of blood leaking from a tiny nick in her leg. However, she pant leg was slashed to peices and her shoe was gone.

"Next time, it'll be the foot, not just the shoe." Ike said menacingly. Elana nodded, wincing and letting tears run down her cheeks when Ike wrapped his hand around her cut.

"It will sting for a while, but I can get a 2-1B droid and-" He started to say, but Elana interrupted him. "You barve!" She berated him. "You hypocritical, stinking Mandalorian liar!" Elana tried to use to the Force to break the chains on her hands, and almost did, but not enough. Ike, shaken up, backed up slowly. Elana tried to break the chains one last time, and to her surprise, and apparently Ike's as well, they did indeed break. Elana flung herself forwards, up and over Ike, sliding the beskad out of it's sheath. Elana swung it like a club, knocking Ike into a wall. She then dropped it, surprised by it's weight, wondering how Ike could use it with one hand and swing it around like a baton. She shook herself out of her thoughts in time to see Ike pulling himself off the floor.

"Stupid Jetii chakaar!" He muttered, lumbering towards Elana. She backed up to the far wall, trying to think of an escape plan, but to no avail. Ike was almost on top of her, when suddenly the opposite side of the room just disintegrated in a flash of light on sound, knocking both Ike and Elana over. They both stared out the gaping hole. In the distance, at the very edge of the forest, were three clones, reloading missile launchers. Alongside them, was an ARC trooper, blasting away with a chaingun, and another trooper, who looked like an ARF, carefully picking off the encroaching droids. The ARF saw Elana staring at the open hole, and slung his rifle over his back. Drawing two pistols, he shot down the hill towards to open wall.

"Run General!" The ARF cried, launching a salvo of bolts past her and at Ike. Each and every shot hit him, but all they did was knock him over. Elana made it to the hole, and pitched over. The ARF holstered his pistols and caught her, carrying her like a baby as he ran to the four men shooting down the droids. Elana saw the helmets of the three clones with missile launchers, and realized they too were ARF's. The ARC saw Elana and the ARF coming, and yelled to the others.

"Cover them!" He ordered, and the covering fire was just enough to see Elana and her rescuer to the tree line.

"Let's move!" Said the ARF that had rescued Elana. Still carrying her, the clones ran into the woods, away from the droids. In the distance, Elana could hear a voice, roaring with all hatred and anger. Elana smiled. Ike wasn't getting the codes today!


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks to RadioactiveSableye for reviewing and helping me with the book.

Chapter Two

"What do you mean, you lost the Jedi?" A rasping voice coughed out.

"What I mean General, is that you didn't destroy all the clones, as you said you did." Said another voice, this one sounding as if coming from a helmet's voice box. There was a low guttural growl, as if some sort of dog was there.

"Choose your words carefully, Mandalorian. Or I will cut out your tongue myself." Said the rasping voice.

"Yes General. I will begin hunting the Jedi and her clones at once. Ike signing off." Said the helmet voice, and then the comm ended.

"Damn the Mandalorians." Said the rasping voice. "You, commander. Where is Narra Flinne?" The voice asked one of the droids.

"Sir, she is just outside the bridge General Grievous." Said the droid.

"Narra! You have a mission!" Grievous called. Narra walked into the bridge, and smiled up at the cyborg.

"I'm ready sir." She said.

"You're alright General, we just need to get you to our encampment." Said the ARF trooper. Elana tried to get a look at his helmet, because the clones of her battalion usually put a distinctive mark on their helmets. But she was so tired, and moving hurt so much, that all she could do was mumble and hope that the ARF wouldn't drop her. The ARF must have realized that she couldn't walk, because he had been carrying her for the entire run, and while Elana was grateful to him, it was a little embarrassing to be carried like a baby.

"STAPs! Get down!" One of the troopers at the back of the group yelled, right before a blaster bolt shot straight through him. Most of the troopers pulled their carbines out, the distinctive DC-15s blaster, and began rolling behind trees and rocks. The ARC trooper simply stood in the middle of the clearing, cutting down the attacking droids with his assault cannon. The ARF carrying Elana set her behind a rock, moving himself between her and any incoming blasterfire. Then Elana got a good look at him and his helmet. To her surprise, the armour was in the black and green colourization favoured by Krayt Company, the ARF troop in Elana's battalion. Then Elana saw the helmet. It was a modified ARF helmet with a pair of binoculars attached. It was Captain Hawke. This confused Elana greatly, because during the battle against the Separatists where her battalion had been destroyed, Hawke had saved her from General Grievous, but had been cut down. Then a chunk of the rock hiding Elana exploded, and she was shaken out of her thoughts. Elana saw the ARC running, assault cannon slung over his back and dragging two injured clones with him. Elana shifted her head, and saw Hawke making a final stand against three commando droids. One droid jumped on it's partners shoulders and launched itself over and behind Hawke. Hawke dropped his DC-15a rifle, and drew his twin DC-17 pistols, pointing one at the droid behind him, and one at the two in front of him. For a few seconds, nothing happened, then Hawke fired twice, once from each pistol. Two droids went down, and the third charged, pulling out a vibroknife. In a moment of panic, Elana reached out using the Force, and pulled Hawke towards her. As he flew, Hawke twisted around, grabbed his rifle and blasted the final droids head off. Then he landed on Elana.

"General! Are you alright?" He asked, pulling himself off of Elana. She nodded, barely able to keep awake. Hawke took one last look to see if there were any more droids, and grabbed Elana, throwing her over his shoulder.

"Let's move!" Hawke shouted at the other surviving clones. Together, the four clones and Elana made their way through a dense patch of vines, avoiding a STAP patrol, and made it into a sheltered clearing. Once their, Hawke set Elana down, and when he turned to give orders, she attempted to stand up. To her surprise, she succeeded. As Hawke turned back to her, she tried to walk, but fell. Thankfully, Hawke was much faster than her, and he caught her before she hit the ground.

"We've set up a medical tent General. You can rest up there." Hawke said soothingly, noticing the look of panic on Elana's face. Elana tried to speak, but she failed. Hawke slowly helped her take step after step, until they were inside the medical tent.

"Sleep well General." Hawk said. "I'll wake you if an emergency pops up." That was all Elana heard, before her vision darkened as she fell asleep.

Several destroyed STAP fighters and their pilots. Three dead commando droids. And one dead ARF trooper.

"Now this is one interesting battle. I didn't know ARFs even had the weaponry to take down a STAP. The pilot maybe, but not the STAP . . ." Narra thought to herself, examining the trashed fighters. The STAP pilots were blasted to bits, which Narra expected. But the fighters themselves were obliterated. Pieces of STAPs were everywhere. Only ARCs and commandos could do this, Narra thought. Narra turned, walking over to her speeder. The droid forces didn't know she was here yet, and she thought it was time to present herself to this 'Ike'. If General Grievous didn't like him, then Narra didn't either. As she prepared to lift off, she noticed a sun glare in the jungle. But plants didn't make sun glare. Narra flung herself to the side as a stream of blaster bolts shot out of the bush, and she pulled as hard as she could using the Force. An ARF trooper, looking very startled, flew out of the jungle. He hit the ground, and his helmet was knocked off.

"Now, that's an odd look." Narra taunted. The clone's hair was shaved except for two strips of hair on each side of his head. As the clone rose, pointing his blaster, Narra flung out her arm, pushing him backwards. She then grabbed his helmet, which had landed beside her, and ran at the clone. Narra jumped onto him before he could get up, and slammed the helmet against his temple, knocking him unconscious.

"Now all I need is for you to wake up." Narra said contemptibly. Narra went around the clearing, checking for any more clones. Unfortunately, there were none. Once she had finished her rounds, Narra picked up the clones arms and began dragging him towards a bush so as to hide him. Once the clone was sufficiently covered, Narra leapt up into the tree tops to wait. She pulled out her comlink, and before activating it, threw her hood over her head. She then dialed in a frequency given to her by Grievous, and called. Sure enough, after a few seconds, the call was answered by an angry looking Mandalorian.

"Your frequency is one of Grievous's." The Mandalorian said. It was a statement, not a question. Narra nodded, and the Mandalorian continued. "Alright. I already know what you want. I have the coordinates of the Jedi's last position, and you should be able to find the clones base relatively easily. Call if you need droids. Oh, and you can tell that shabuir Grievous that if he'll be getting a visit from me soon." Narra took a moment before she understood what he meant.

"Hey!" She cried. "I don't know what shabuir means, but I think it's an insult. Insult Grievous again, and I will kill you!" Narra growled at the Mandalorian. But all he did was smile and put his helmet on.

"Be seeing you." He said, and the channel closed.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

When she awoke, the first thing Elana noted was that she was completely alone in the med tent. There were no medics, and no wounded. She could hear a slight murmur outside, but couldn't make it out. So, Elana's curiosity engaged, she investigated. Once she neared the exit of the tent, she could finally make out the voices. It sounded like a clone singing, and it was quite beautiful.

"Just wait though wide he may roam always, a hero comes home, he goes where no one has gone but always a hero comes home," The voices sang. "Deep in the heart of darkness sparks a dream of light,surrounded by hopelessness, he finds the will to fight. There's no surrender, always remember ,it doesn't end here, we're not alone!" The clones chanted. The music seemed to fill Elana with life, and she was able to make her way out to the source. What she say amazed her. Camped around a large fire were about thirteen clones, some with helmet on, and some with them off. There was the ARC trooper, standing arms crossed beside a clone with black and green armour and a kama.

"Hawke." Elana whispered. The singing was coming from all the clones, but they all seemed to be whispering. Hawke was the exception. He was actually standing there, singing fully and outright. His voice was so full of passion, as was his representation in the Force, that it made Elana choke back tears. She sat back, just outside of the light, and listened.

"And he will come back on a crimson tide, dead or alive and even though we know the bridge has burned, he will return, he will return," Hawke sang. It was then that Elana noticed that three of the clones held instruments. Two held a sort of drum, and the other held a flute, creating a melody that lulled Elana to come forwards.

"Someday they'll carve in stone "the hero comes home" he goes and comes back alone but always, a hero comes home!" The clones finished. The clones with instruments continued playing, but the whispered singing stopped. Elana snuck around the circle, not being noticed. She came up behind Hawke, and went to tap him on the shoulder, when she saw something being partially blocked by his pauldron. She crouched down, and was stunned. Around the bonfire were two sticks, with empty clone helmets on top. Elana shuddered with realization. This ceremony was a funeral for the clones. She straightened up, and gripped Hawke's shoulder. The ARC seemed surprised that she was here, and pulled a pistol out of it's holster mid-way before noticing who it was. Hawke turned more slowly, and Elana saw that he was crying, or had been recently crying.

"Hawke, are you-" Elana stopped as her voice cracked, then continued. "Are you alright Hawke?" She asked. He nodded, pulling on his helmet. "Yes ma'am. I heard a saying once. It said 'Family are all the friends you have, and friends are the only family you need'. Well, those two were both family and friend." Hawke said, motioning at the burning helmets. He turned back to the fire, picking something out of his pouch. Elana peered down, examining it closely. It was a thin piece of wood, with the words 'People die, but memories don't'. Hawke stepped forwards, and tossed the message into the fire. Then he turned to look at his troops.

"Alright men, let's get ready. Leon and Jell will be missed, but we should honour their memories and live. Put the fire out, I know it was smokeless, but nonetheless, put it out. Dev, with me." Hawke finished dishing out orders, and walked up to Elana. Elana noticed the ARC trailing him, so she assumed that the ARC was Dev.

"Come with me General." Hawke said simply as he passed. Confused, Elana did as he asked. They continued for a few meters, and Elana realized there was an entire camp here. Six tents, and a command tent and the infirmary where Elana had been sleeping only a few minutes ago. Dev walked up to Hawke, and the two exchanged words that Elana couldn't hear. It occurred to her that all in all, she wasn't a very good commander, and Hawke seemed to excel beyond the standards of normal clone commanders. Elana did not voice her concern, and followed Hawke into the command tent. Hawke walked towards the far corner and grabbed a chair, spinning it to face Elana. When he removed his helmet, he took a look at her and his eyes widened. Elana watched him move a hand over his eyes, and she saw him smile.

"What is it?" Elana asked, nervously looking around. "Oh, it's nothing General," Hawke chuckled. "But you might want to look in the mirror to your left." Elana did as he recommended, and realized why he had covered his eyes. After all the excitement since the interrogation, Elana had not noticed the state of her robes. They were torn and ragged, revealing a little too much skin, and were steadily falling apart. Elana spun back to Hawke, and covered herself up as best as she could. Hawke picked himself up, replacing his helmet.

"I'll get some clothes for you General." He said, still not looking at her, and exited. Elana stood alone and cold for a few moments, and wondered what was to become of her.

"So, what to do with you?" Narra asked herself. She was sitting on a tree stump just off the site of the ambush. She sat there, staring down at the unconscious body of the clone that had tried to shoot her. He was lying on his stomach, and Narra was busy looking through his gear to turn him over.

"Hmm, you must be a demolitions expert my friend." Narra mumbled as she pulled out several thermal detonators. Then a rock hit Narra right under her eye. She was so startled she kicked out, and fell backwards off the stump. But she quickly caught herself. She flipped back up, drawing her impressive saberstaff and ignited both ends. Standing there, his arm cocked and another rock in his hand was the supposed 'unconscious' clone.

"Aw, kark!" The clone shouted when he saw the lightsaber. Turning, and tossing the rock over his shoulder, he bolted towards the wreckage of the STAPs, and Narra rushed after him. She stopped suddenly when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a red blinking light. Narra quickly spun, grabbing the grenade the clone had left and threw it as high and as far as she possibly could. As she turned, she heard the deafening explosion, and a tiny piece of metal flung past her head, and sliced her on the cheek. Angered, Narra rushed forwards, easily catching up with the clone and grabbing his neck, and attempted to do a shoulder throw. Unfortunately, the clone was a far better hand-to-hand fighter, even with Narra drawing on the Force. Luckily for her, as he knocked her back, and black and blue as well, she noticed a medium-sized rock directly behind him. Using the last of her strength, she pushed him back, and the clone tripped backwards, falling flat on his back.

"Oof!" The clone wheezed. "Damn you, stinking Sith schutta," He muttered flipping himself up as Narra rushed towards him. Unfortunately for Narra, the clone timed it well, and he kicked her full in the face as she neared him. As she fell back, the clone spun towards her, pulling out a pistol. She pulled herself up, watching as the clone flipped it from stun to burn, and as he took aim, Narra closed her eyes, begging for someone to help. Then she heard a thump as if someone had fallen from a high distance and then a crunch. Narra waited a few seconds more, and when death didn't come, she slowly opened her eyes, and beheld an amazing sight. A Mandalorian in full battle armour, coloured black and gold, was holding up an unconscious clone by the throat.

"So you're Grievous's new protege, eh?" The Mandalorian asked. Then Narra recognized him. "Hey!" She exclaimed. "You're the Mandalorian who insulted Grievous! Why I ought to-" Narra began, but the the Mandalorian clamped a hand over her mouth.

"You can kill me later, right now, I have a plan to take down the clones.


End file.
